Why Is My Website Not Showing Up on Google? 11 Causes and Fixes

If you're asking why your website is not showing up on Google, one of two things is true: Google doesn't have your pages in its index, or it has them and shows other pages first for the query you tried. A third case looks like the second: you searched your brand name, and other sites own those words. One URL Inspection in Search Console tells you which case you're in, and when a page isn't indexed, Google names the reason.

If you haven't set anything up yet, start with how to get your website to show up on Google. For one new page on a site that is otherwise indexed, read Google not indexing new pages.

First, confirm the site is really missing

Google's troubleshooting guide, Why is my page missing from Google Search?, starts here: a page can be indexed and just not where you looked.

• Turn off SafeSearch, which can filter results.
• Search site:example.com with your domain. Results mean Google has at least some of your pages, but Google says the list isn't always exhaustive (site: operator). See the site: search operator.
• Results depend on the searcher's location, device and recent history (Performance report help), so what you see isn't what everyone sees.
• After submitting a sitemap or an indexing request, Google asks you to allow at least a week.

Find out why your website is not showing up on Google

In Search Console, paste the homepage URL into the inspection bar at the top and read the verdict, then do the same for the page you expected to find. The verdict, plus the reason under Page indexing, picks your branch (URL Inspection tool help):

URL is on Google, but has issues is indexed too; the issues concern enhancements such as structured data. The tool doesn't test manual actions, security issues, legal removals or spam policies, so a URL is on Google verdict doesn't rule them out (Inspect and troubleshoot a single page). The URL Inspection tool guide walks through every field.

Branch 1: Google doesn't have your pages

The Page indexing section of the inspection shows how Google discovered the URL, when it last crawled it, whether crawling and indexing were allowed, whether the page fetch worked and which canonical Google selected.

1. The site is new and Google hasn't found it yet

Google says it can take a few weeks to notice a new site (Get your website on Google), and its troubleshooting guide puts crawling plus indexing of a new page at a day or two to a few weeks, typically. Submit a sitemap and request indexing for the homepage, as that guide suggests, then give it time. How long it takes Google to index a page covers the timelines.

2. Nothing links to it

A site no other site links to is on Google's list of reasons a site gets missed, and a page that is poorly linked and isn't in a sitemap is often missing too. Google follows only <a> elements with an href (crawlable links), so a menu built on click handlers can hide every page behind the homepage. Link each page from one Google already knows. Don't buy links: Google warns that can violate its spam policies.

3. robots.txt blocks Googlebot

A robots.txt left over from staging can keep every crawler away from every URL:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /

The Page indexing reason is URL blocked by robots.txt. Remove the rule and check the live file. Google says robots.txt isn't a way to keep a page out of Google: a blocked URL can still appear, without a description, if other pages link to it (Introduction to robots.txt).

4. A noindex tells Google to leave it out

Either of these keeps a page out of the index (Block indexing with noindex):

<meta name="robots" content="noindex">

# or as an HTTP response header
X-Robots-Tag: noindex

The help page calls the reason URL marked ‘noindex’; Search Console's screens often word it Excluded by ‘noindex’ tag. A common cause is a setting left on from development. In WordPress, the Discourage search engines from indexing this site box under Settings > Reading adds a noindex,nofollow robots meta tag to every page (WordPress documentation). Check the live page and headers, not the template:

curl -s https://example.com/ | grep -i noindex
curl -s -o /dev/null -D - https://example.com/ | grep -i x-robots-tag

If robots.txt also blocks the URL, Googlebot never sees the noindex. JavaScript that removes a noindex may never run: Google may skip rendering once it sees one.

5. Googlebot gets an error, a login or a block

Googlebot doesn't sign in, so a page behind a login is invisible to it. A signed-out (incognito) window is a quick first check; the live test shows what Google itself got. Each failure has its own reason in the Page indexing report: Blocked due to unauthorized request (401) for a login, Not found (404), Server error (5xx), Soft 404 for an error page served with a 200, and Blocked due to access forbidden (403). Googlebot never provides credentials, so Google says a server answering it with a 403 is returning that error incorrectly: check firewall, CDN and bot-protection rules.

Errors also cost pages you already have: Google removes indexed URLs that return a 4xx and eventually drops URLs that keep returning server errors (HTTP status codes and Google). When a live test reports Not available due to a site-wide issue, the Page fetch field has the details, and the Crawl stats report (under Settings) shows host status for robots.txt fetching, DNS resolution and server connectivity.

6. The content only appears after JavaScript runs

Google queues pages that return 200 for rendering and indexes the rendered HTML. That is an extra step, not every bot runs JavaScript, and Google advises against loading different content through fragments such as /#/pricing. It calls server-side rendering or pre-rendering “still a great idea” (JavaScript SEO basics). In a live test, View tested page shows the HTML and a screenshot of what Google rendered.

7. Google indexed a different URL instead

Google groups duplicates and shows one canonical URL. Common duplicates are www and bare-domain versions, http and https, and tracking parameters (canonicalization). A template bug that points every canonical at the homepage asks Google to treat every page as a copy of it. The reasons read Duplicate without user-selected canonical or Duplicate, Google chose different canonical than user. Redirect retired duplicates permanently and give each page a self-referencing rel="canonical"; a sitemap entry alone is a weak signal.

8. Google crawled it and chose not to index it

Discovered - currently not indexed means Google found the URL but hasn't crawled it, typically because crawling then was expected to overload the site. Crawled - currently not indexed means Google fetched the page and didn't index it; it may later, and Google says there's no need to resubmit. Google doesn't expect every URL to be indexed, only canonical pages (Page indexing report help). What helps is a more useful, distinct page with links from indexed pages. The page indexing report covers every reason.

The check that closes this branch: after the fix, click Test live URL. When it reports URL is available to Google, click Request indexing. That queues a crawl; Google says it doesn't guarantee indexing.

Branch 2: Google has the page but doesn't show it

When the verdict is URL is on Google, search for the exact URL on google.com, the confirmation Google suggests. If it shows up, the question is where the page ranks. If even that finds nothing, look at what inspection doesn't test.

9. A manual action, a security issue or a removal request

A manual action is applied when a human reviewer at Google finds pages that don't comply with its spam policies, and it can keep some or all of a site out of results (Manual actions report). Hacked content, malware or social engineering appear in the Security issues report and can put a warning on your results. Check both reports, especially for a domain you bought or inherited; fix every affected page, then click Request Review. In the Removals tool, an approved temporary removal hides a URL for about six months.

10. The page is indexed but ranks below other results

Indexing makes a page eligible; ranking decides where it appears. Google orders results by relevance using hundreds of factors, including the searcher's location, language and device, and content that doesn't match the query is one reason an indexed page isn't shown (How Google Search works). The Performance report lists the queries your site gets impressions for and its average position for each. Impressions at an average position of 30 mean Google shows the page, just far down. Indexed but not ranking covers what to change.

Branch 3: nothing comes up for your brand name

11. Your brand name is shared or generic

If the homepage is URL is on Google and a search for your name returns other sites, Google is matching the words, not your company. A new brand called something like Atlas or Bloom competes with every established page about those words. Filter the Performance report to queries containing your name: impressions mean you are there, below the others.

Put the name in the homepage's title and main heading as text, not only in a logo (Google asks you to use text, not just images). Get it mentioned and linked from your profiles and from sites that cover you. For a local business, claim your Business Profile, which manages how your business appears across Google, including Search and Maps. After changing the title, request indexing for the homepage once to ask for a recrawl.

If your site used to show up

A site that disappears after months in Google has a different set of causes: a ranking update, a migration without redirects, a technical change or a manual action. Google's guide to debugging search traffic drops starts with the Performance report, and the Google Search Status Dashboard shows incidents in crawling, indexing, ranking and serving. Pages dropped from Google's index explains how to tell them apart.

How IndexCyborg runs these checks for every page

IndexCyborg reads your sitemaps and, once Search Console is connected, inspects the URLs in them through the URL Inspection API: new pages straight away, within Google's 2,000 inspections per property per day, re-checked after 7 days, with Google's status stored word for word. Its technical checks fetch each page and look for the signals behind causes 3, 4 and 7 and the HTTP errors in cause 5 (status codes, redirect chains, meta robots, X-Robots-Tag, robots.txt rules, canonicals), raise an issue with the evidence and resolve it once the fix is live. The fetcher isn't Googlebot, so a firewall rule that blocks only Googlebot shows up in the live test, not here.

For pages Google hasn't indexed, the Chrome extension clicks Request indexing in your own Search Console session, at most 10 per property per rolling 24 hours; its own picks skip pages excluded on purpose or not returning 200. Manual actions, security issues and rankings stay in Search Console's reports. None of this makes Google index a page; it tells you, page by page, why Google hasn't. More on the features page.

Frequently asked questions